India’s Razorpay triples valuation to $3 billion

Bloomberg

Razorpay, an Indian startup that facilitates digital payments, is raising $160 million from Sequoia India, Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC Pte and others, tripling its valuation to $3 billion in six months.
The Bangalore-headquartered company, which helps businesses to automate their payment systems, will use the funds to expand into banking and lending, make acquisitions and add services in Southeast Asia, the company said in an announcement. Razorpay Software Pvt, as the company is formally known, has raised a total of $366.5 million so far.
India is in the middle of an unprecedented startup boom, as the coronavirus pandemic drives more activity online and investors see untapped opportunity for profit in the fledgling digital ecosystem. Earlier this month, six startups turned unicorns within the span of days, almost as many as all of 2020. Razorpay is the latest beneficiary, seeing its valuation surge after reaching the $1 billion mark in October. The startup has seen 300% growth in both volume and revenues during the financial year ending in March, its co-founder and CEO Harshil Mathur said.
“We process about $40 billion annualised payments volume currently, compared with $12 billion a year ago,” said Mathur, discussing the funding via a Zoom video conference call. More than 5 million businesses use its payments infrastructure currently, compared with 3 million last year. India’s fintech segment has received a substantial boost after stringent lockdowns, night curfews and restrictions on the operation of malls and supermarkets.